Monday morning came and I was in a much better mood. I had thought about what Mrs. Jackson had said, and sensed she might have had at least some things right.
I've moved enough times in my life from one place to another to know how hard it could be to make new friends. Last time, when we moved to Forks, I hadn't made many efforts for I had my family and really didn't need any more friends. But before, when I had been younger, I had wanted friends my age, and being new in a school had always made it difficult.
Bella was just careful. She needed to figure out where everybody stood, who were the kids to hang out with, and who weren't. We, the Cullens, were certainly not on the list, though that was something we actively enforced. We couldn't risk that anybody found out our secrets and if that meant we were considered elite snobs that didn't matter to us. It was just as much for their safety as for ours.
Bella didn't – couldn't – know that. It would be better for her if she made friends with the 'normal' kids first.
Not that I didn't want to be friends with her. I still did want to be her friend, to know her better. But I was willing to give her time to settle in first.
It had snowed over night and Emmett and Jasper had involved me in a snow ball fight on our way to lunch. As usual I had been at a severe disadvantage. I just didn't have the strength or the speed of the rest of my family even when toned down to appear human, but eventually Jasper had joined my side, and we had managed to get to Emmett. I was, of course, dripping wet when we got to the cafeteria, but I didn't mind. It had been fun.
In Biology, Mr. Banner had distributed one microscope and a box with slides per table. Working with our lab partners, we were supposed to sort the slides of onion root tips into the phases of mitosis they represented without using our books.
I had done this before, so I thought I would give Bella a chance to show what she knew.
"You want to start?" I asked her, pushing the microscope closer to her place.
She nodded without a word and put the first slide into the microscope. She peered through the eyepiece.
"Prophase," she said. "Wanna check?"
I nodded and she pushed the equipment towards me. As I reached toward to take the microscope from her, our hands touched for the fraction of a second and something like an electric jolt passed between us. We both looked up at the same moment and our eyes met.
Time froze.
I don't know what it was, but suddenly I couldn't breathe. My heart stopped and lost myself in the depth of her chocolate brown yes.
I don't know how long it took, may it be a second, a minute or a year, but eventually I had to breathe again, and the spell we've been under was broken.
I swallowed, though my throat was suddenly bone try.
"I'm sorry," I said, pulling back my hand.
"It's okay," she replied, sounding a little bit breathless herself.
I forced myself to look through the eyepiece and confirmed Bella's identification of the slide. I wrote it down into our lab sheet and swapped the slide out for the next one.
The rest of the lab went by quietly. Bella identified all slides correctly and we were the first team that finished.
Waiting for the rest of the class to catch up, I decided to risk talking to her again.
"So, how do you like Forks so far?" I thought this would be a safe enough topic.
She pursed her lips and I found myself distracted on how cute this looked.
"It's … very wet," she said, obviously trying to be diplomatic.
"Isn't that true," I chuckled. "Where did you live before you came here?" I knew already, of course, but I couldn't tell her that.
"Phoenix. It didn't rain there nearly as much. It was much browner there."
"I happen to like brown," I said, thinking of the color of Bella's eyes and her hair.
She blushed – I've noticed before that it didn't take a lot to make her blush – and then looked away.
"I could get used to green," she said quietly, almost too low for me to hear.
I wasn't sure what she was meant with that, only that it was more than just a statement about the greenness of the forests around Forks.
Banner then came around to check our results. He wasn't surprised I had known all the answers to the questions, but insinuated that I had helped Bella. I couldn't allow that misconception to remain standing.
"Bella identified three of the five slides," I defended her. Banner looked skeptical at her.
"I did the lab before in my old school, but we used whitefish blastula," she informed him with a half shrug.
"So, you like bio then?" I asked after Banner had moved away to check on the others.
"It's pretty cool, though I do like English lit more," she said.
"What are you reading right now?" I asked.
"Of Mice and Man. Not my favorite, but better than some others I've had."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. All those dreams, all those hopes and in the end it was all for nothing. It's downright depressing."
She laughed and I wanted for time to stop, so I would always hear that sound.
Slowly, slowly, I reminded myself. Keep it simple, don't rush her.
For the next five minutes we continued with light conversation, keeping to safe topics like school, weather, the latest movie, until Banner called the class to order and explained to the others what we should have been seeing.
I felt pretty damn good when school finally ended. I actually had had a real conversation with Bella and she had been friendly enough. And there might have been more, something more than just friendliness.
I was looking forward to the next day's Biology.
Little did I know what the next day would bring.
* * *
Yesterday's rain had frozen on the streets and a thin dusting of snow covered the treacherous ice. Rosalie insisted she drive, even though normally I was the designated driver. As her reflexes were far superior to mine, I accepted. I believed myself to be a fairly good driver, having gone through some rigorous training at the hands of my car-nuts family, but there were situations where I knew my mother just felt saver. Not for her, naturally, but for me. It was stupid, but I couldn't deny her.
We arrived at the school parking lot without any problems and parked in our usual spot. It was too early to go in, so we just hung around, watching the other cars pull in. Emmett and Rosalie started to make out, so I moved a little bit away from them. They were my parents for crying out loud and there were some things I really didn't need to see.
When Bella drove into the lot in her faded red Chevy truck, I had to grin. She was driving so carefully. She parked a few cars away from us. When she got out, she slowly pulled herself along the side of her car, her feet slipping on the ice, until she reached the back tire. She was checking for something, though I didn't know what. After she straightened up, she remained standing there for a moment, a small smile on her face.
The next second a couple of things happened at the same time.
I felt Alice tense next to me, gasping the word 'No!'
My eyes immediately searched for Bella, and before I knew why, I was moving, racing towards her.
At this moment, a dark blue van entered the parking lot at a speed that far exceeded anything prudent for this kind of weather. The van hit a batch of ice at an unlucky angle and began to spin across the parking lot, aiming with unwavering certainty towards the girl standing next to the faded red Chevy.
Towards Bella.
I pumped my legs harder, pushing myself to my top speed. Luckily I didn't hit any icy spots, for this would have brought me down for sure. I reduced the distance between myself and the girl frozen to the spot, as the van spun with screeching tires closer and closer, and I knew with absolute certainty that I would be too late, that there was no way I would be able to make it in time to save her.
In one final mad dash I leapt at her and tackled her to the ground, pushing her as far away as possible from the place she had been only a fraction of a second before. As I barreled into her, my shoulder collided with something hard and cold and I felt fire explode from that point. We landed on the ground, only inches away from a blue wall that, unbelievably, was still coming nearer. At the very last moment, I turned around, pushing Bella as close to the ground as possible, hoping she would be low enough to end up underneath the car, not against it.
The back of my head collided with something hard and unyielding.
There was a flash of pain and then there was only darkness.